Then there is the company — like minded food lovers that are hungry to learn more in the kitchen. Top it all off with the courses of food you get to enjoy when the stories and lessons wrap up and you have yourself a winning ticket.
But when you dive deeper into these classes and boil them down, its essence is the stories behind food, the family recipes, the history of ingredients and the origins of what that particular chef chose to focus on that day and why.
A great example of the origin stories that I love comes courtesy of Dorothy Lane Market Culinary School instructor Mary Cooney.
“I’m a first generation Italian-American who grew up with a lot of family who were great cooks. There was an appreciation for good food at all of our family gatherings. I grew up with all of my Aunts (Zia’s) and Uncles (Zio’s) and cousins. It wasn’t until I started my family that I felt the need to cook for my children, said Cooney. “I started with simple meals and really enjoyed it and continued expanding on my Italian background. My love of Italian cookies and Italian dishes continued to grow. As my family grew with five children, I started as a volunteer at Dorothy Lane Market Cooking School and then became an employee in January 2005.”
Cooney teaches roughly 40 classes a year, some for DLM and some private classes. She specializes and focuses mainly on Italian cuisine.
“My favorite classes to teach are Italian, from homemade lasagna, gnocchi, cavatelli, chicken porchetta, chicken marsala. I also specialize in desserts from homemade cannoli shells to the homemade ricotta filling. Tiramisu, cream puffs, pizzelle cookies, Italian wedding cake and all kinds of Italian cookies,” said Cooney.
She published Mary Pietrantonio Cooney’s book “Mary’s Kitchen” in June of 2015 because she wanted to preserve family recipes for younger generations.
“I’d been teaching classes for 10 years at DLM Culinary School and realized that I had so many recipes that needed to be written down and saved for me as well as my family and friends,” said Cooney. “One of the reasons I wanted to write down the family recipes is because all of the Italian Grandmothers, or ‘Nonna’ had the recipes in their heads and not written down. So when they passed on, the recipe remained a mystery to the rest of the family. I felt it was so important to preserve the family recipes for future generations to come. What a wonderful tribute to be able to reproduce your grandmother’s special dish she made for you. Also every Italian Nonna will tell you that ‘they make the best’ cookie, sauce, chicken... If it is the best, I wanted to preserve it in a cookbook.”
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
Cooney took recipes handed down from her grandmother and researched and tested recipes to come up with the very best versions. Her terrific cookbook is available for purchase on Amazon and is also for sale at DLM’s Culinary Center in Centerville.
For me, Cooney represents the best part of what you can get from a Culinary Center class — time with an accomplished, talented chef to absorb a little of their wisdom and skills in the kitchen. Like other instructors Cooney is a terrific storyteller with an impressive resume - in her case 35 years of dedicated time cooking in the kitchen and 17 years teaching professional cooking classes at DLM. She has a contagious passion for Italian cooking and is an accessible, entertaining teacher that focuses on letting simple, straightforward ingredients sing.
In addition to her dedication to teaching others her love of food at DLM’s Culinary Center, Cooney is a member of the Sons of Italy and has run the pastry booth at the Italian Fall Festa for the past 20 years. She is part of the dream team that bakes all of the cookies that are sold at the festival every September and can be seen each year at the event.
“My food is special because I use the best ingredients and Italian food has so many options for learning new techniques that can be duplicated at home,” said Cooney. “Family and food were always together. Our large Italian family showed love by sharing good food.”
She continues to share that love with others to this day through her classes and cookbook and those who have had the good fortune to enjoy either one of those are fortunate indeed. Nonna would be proud.
Dayton Eats looks at the regional food stories and restaurant news that make mouths water. Share info about your menu updates, special dinners and events, new chefs, interesting new dishes and culinary adventures. Do you know of exciting outdoor spaces, new exciting format changes, specials, happy hours, restaurant updates or any other tasty news you think is worth a closer look at? E-mail Alexis Larsen at alexis.e.larsen@hotmail.com with the information and we will work to include it in future coverage.
Mary Cooney’s cooking tips
- Focus on organization. Write down a list of what you will be serving. Make any dishes you can ahead of time and prep your vegetables to help make it easier the day of.
- Make a shopping list as well as a prep list using your menu and recipes
- Create a timeline for prep work and when it can be done. Some items, like stock can be made a week before, while fresh herbs can be chopped the morning of.
- Take stock of your equipment. Determine if you need anything specific, like a meat thermometer.
- Have a game-day plan. Decide what time you want to serve the meal and work backwards. Look at your recipes, figure out how long the hot dishes will take to cook, or reheat, and figure out when they should go in the oven or on the stove top. Ideally, everything should be ready around the same time.
“My philosophy is that I don’t take short cuts. I believe you should use the best quality ingredients to produce delicious Italian dishes. I want people to have fun cooking together and create traditions and memories,” said Cooney.
— Alexis Larsen, Contributing Writer
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